Quote:
Originally Posted by tcolvin
The RAF refused to operate aircraft designed for vertical delivery.
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I was trying to stay out of this because it's clearly been going nowhere for some time but ...
As far as the RAF was concerned, its fighters had repeatedly massacred "aircraft designed for vertical delivery" in the Battle of Britain. Any so-called "refusal" to operate such aircraft itself was most likely because the RAF had learned the lessons from that campaign.
When the RAF was framing its future operational requirements, how could anyone possibly know what the strength of the
Luftwaffe's fighter force would be in the West two, three or four years hence? Would you have bet on its near-impotence? No one could have known that by mid-1944 a hypothetical divebomber might be able to operate over Europe with little fighter opposition.